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Previous Reports: |
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Flying High
Report: (Preston 3 - 1 Brighton) |
Another
defeat making it six in a row has put us even further into trouble.
Another sending off has given us more selection problems in our already
stretched squad. Mark McGhee made a surprise selection by dropping Leon
Knight and Mark McCammon to the subs bench, then recalling Richard
Carpenter and Nathan Jones in a 4-5-1 formation, with Adam Virgo on his
own up front. While this meant that the mid field wasn’t over run as has
happened recently, Virgo doesn’t have the best control and we couldn’t
use him as an outlet to relieve the pressure. Saying that,
Preston
didn’t have a shot
for 25 minutes, and the game turned on a controversial penalty given by
THAT Mr Prosser.
Preston
player had gone into
our penalty area and gone down after a challenge from Charlie Oatway and
Gary Hart. It was difficult to see if it was a foul, but it was a huge
surprise when the red card came out immediately.
At first it seemed that Charlie had been sent off because he took
off his captains armband as though to give it to someone else, but then we
saw Gary Hart walking off the pitch. Charlie put the captains armband in
the back of the goal, almost as if he was trying to pretend he was someone
else. Was it a case of mistaken identity? Alexander took the penalty and
gave Blayney no chance.
Once
we only had ten men, there was no way we were going to keep
Preston
at bay and they were
swarming all over us, looking likely to score a hatful.
The
second goal had some controversy over it as well – not because of the
way it was scored, but due to the fact that immediately afterwards one of
the Preston players went up to the referee and shook his hand! What was
THAT for? The goal was a simple move put away by Cresswell unmarked in the
centre of the goal. Coming a minute before half time it was a real killer,
and we knew there was no way we would get back into the game after that.
When
the teams came out for the second half,
Preston
were immediately on
the attack again and we were concerned that they might just run up a
cricket score. We couldn’t hold on to the ball, weren’t making any
chances up front, and looked shaky at the back. Leon and big Mac came on
as subs. Virgo went back into midfield but this made little difference.
The
third goal was similar to the second, as much as their guy was unmarked in
the centre of the goal when he put it away. The gaps in the centre of our
defence were certainly worrying, and in the end McGhee took off Dolan who
looks out of his depth. Adam
El-Abd eventually replaced him and we reverted to a five man defence and
Virgo went back too, which succeeded in keeping the score down to just the
three goals. I don’t remember a shot on goal from us in the whole game,
and it is extremely worrying to think where the next goal may come from.
Without Leon and Gary Hart in the next game, is it time to recall Jake
Robinson from
Aldershot
?
Impressive
three sides to the ground, forth side shows just what a grotty place it
must have been in the past! The Tom Finney statue outside the ground is
also a nice touch but even their crowd seemed embarrassed to be singing
happy birthday to the man himself twice at half time. Not a large turnout
from the
Albion
fans, probably no more than 350 or so. However, its pretty good for a
Tuesday night in
Lancashire
!
Most impressive was the humour shown with the chants in the second half,
particularly when the black cat ran on the pitch – And a song went up
about ferrets! The
Preston
fans were noisy, but they couldn’t sing without their drum in the
background.
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Player
Ratings |
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Blayney
8
Couldn’t
be faulted for any of the goals
Reid
6
Average
performance
Dolan
5
Too
slow and out of position too often
Butters
7
Even
he cant plug all of the gaps!
Harding
6
Did
the best he could
Hart
5
Unlucky
to be sent off
Hammond
6
Fought
well for the ball, but doesn’t create much
Carpenter
6
Couldn’t
influence the game at all
Oatway
5
Largely
anonymous
Jones
5
Anonymous
as Charlie
Virgo
6
Effort
cant be faulted, but his lack of ball control didn’t help the team
tactics
Subs:
Knight
6
Never
got into the game
McCammon
5
Needs
to put himself about more
El-Abd
6
Helped
keep the score down to three
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Statistics |
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Possession:
Preston 61%
Brighton 39%
Shots:
Preston 18
Brighton 1
Corners:
Preston 7
Brighton 0
Fouls:
Preston 9
Brighton 7
Bookings:
Preston 0
Brighton 2
Referee:
P
Prosser
Attendance:
14234
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Managers
Comments: (Preston) |
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"It was a very, very good
performance, obviously. We scored some great goals.
"We had to be patient at the
beginning of the game. Patience was the key. We passed the ball very well
and showed a lot of composure.
"It was important we kept passing
and moving the ball and use the full width of the field."
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Managers
Comments: (Brighton) |
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"Even with 11 we were playing
against a team playing well.
"Gary Hart said he tripped the boy.
We thought it was very hard, but the referee felt he had no choice.
"We've now lost six in a row. If
you're going to get 44 points, as we have now, you're going to go down. So
it's in our own hands now."
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Fans
Comments: (Preston) |
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Fans
Comments: (Brighton) |
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